Hungry
by EmilyCulling
Summary: When Peter came back form the dead, things pretty much went back to normal. That is until he woke up one morning feeling... weird. But it was nothing, he didn't need to bother telling aunt May or Mr. Stark.
1. Chapter 1

When Peter came back from the dead after the remaining avengers defeated Thanos, he, along with the rest of trillions of beings that had vanished, felt as if no time had past. It had felt as if he had never disappeared; Peter hadn't ever remembered turning into dust in the first place (but he knew something had happened by the way Rhodey had started to ask him whether or not he remembered and how Mr. Stark had immediately and venomously cut off him off and changed the topic of conversation).

It goes without saying that when Peter did reappear on Titan he had been shocked to find out that he, along with the rest of the who had vanished, had been gone for almost 3 months. It was strange really, because you would think that people who had vanished were the unlucky ones, but it didn't think long for Peter to realize that it was actually the opposite. The people who stayed had been forced to live for months grieving the heartbreaking loss of all their loved ones, while those who left felt like nothing had happened. Peter couldn't imagine the sadness that must how taken over the world; he felt guilty to even think it, but Peter was glad he hadn't been alive to witness it. All things considered, Peter felt pretty normal about the whole situation. Well, at least he had felt normal, that is, until a couple of nights ago.

Upon returning from the dead it had taken Peter a surprisingly short amount of time to adjust to normal life. Within a couple of weeks he was back at school and going on patrol (albeit he was doing the latter in secret because Peter was pretty such that with the way May and Mr. Stark have been acting around him since "the incident", there was no way in hell they would let him go spidermaning right now). Even though the whole world was still shaken by everything, everyone did seem to be moving past the whole ordeal, or at least they were pretending to be.

However, a couple of days ago, about a month after he had returned, Peter began to feel...off. It was hard to describe really, he just woke up one morning feeling sick, which was weird because ever since the spider bite, Peter hadn't gotten sick, he didn't think he could any more. Deep down Peter knew he wasn't actually sick, he felt different than feeling sick, but he didn't know what else his strange feeling could be. He just decided to ignore it and hope it would go away soon. It didn't.

* * *

A day had gone by since Peter started to feel weird and it hadn't really impacted him other than the fact that, for some reason, Peter couldn't seem to make himself eat. He wasn't hungry and the idea of eating made him neasaus. Although not eating for a day doesn't seem like that big of a deal, Peter knew that with his new metabolism he really should be eating every couple of hours. Not eating was dangerous, but Peter just couldn't bring himself to eat.

"Peter." May spoke, causing Peter to stop, one foot out the door on his way to school. "Come here, you didn't eat breakfast."

May was frowning at Peter, with that concerned look in her eyes that almost seemed to be permanently there ever since Peter came back. She worried too much, even if she tried to hide it, Peter was well aware of the pain she had gone through when he was gone. They didn't talk about it, but Peter knew, and it killed him to see his aunt like this.

"I was going to grab something on the way to school" Peter responded, still not leaving from his spot in the doorway.

May narrowed her eyes and said sternly "Come here Peter."

"Mayyyy…." Peter whined, rolling his eyes, but he walked over, knowing better than to argue with her. "Come on, I'm going to be late."

"You need to eat," May completely ignored Peter's complaints as she moved towards the oven and turned it on. "Don't think I didn't notice you didn't eat last night, you need to eat Peter."

She turned to give him a stern look before immediately turning back to the eggs she was cooking. Peter felt his cheeks redden in embarrassment, he thought he had done a good job of hiding his lack of eating.

"I'm just not that hungry right now" Peter mumbled, still standing uneasily, shifting from foot to foot. "And I really need to get to school."

"Wait." May stopped abruptly to turn completely to face Peter, her eyes shone with newfound concern. "You're still not hungry... Is everything okay baby? Are you sick? Wait, can you still get sick with this spider thing? Oh god, I'm still so new to this I don't know what to do. I have to call Tony, he'll know-"

"May clam down" Peter interrupted, taking a step forward to put his hands on May's shoulders in reassurance,"I'm fine, I swear. You don't have to call Mr. Stark. I'm just not that hungry right now, there is nothing wrong."

"But with your new metabolism you need to eat more often or you could get really sick."

"Yeah but… wait. How do you know that?"

"Tony told me."

"Mr. Stark told you that?" Peter questioned, with annoyance clear in his voice. Had May and Tony been talking about him without his knowledge? The thought filled Peter with anger, he wasn't some little kid that needed to be looked after "When?"

"When do you think? I made him tell me everything he knew when I found out about your night time activities." May turned to give Peter a another little glare, she was still upset he didn't tell her. "Listen Peter, just sit down and eat, I'll drive you to school."

May started putting all kinds on food on the table, looking at Peter expectantly. She was clearly waiting for him to sit down. Peter stood still for a moment, having an internal debate with himself as to whether he should just bolt out the door or sit and pretend to eat. It only took a moment before Peter went to sit in front of his aunt, he knew there was no way that he would be able to get away with running off, not after what happened.

May nodded approvingly at him and turned back to finish cooking the eggs as Peter began to play with the toast in front of him, not able to force himself to put it in his mouth, no matter how hard tried. As Peter watched May cook, her back to him, the teen stuffed pieces of toast into his backpack so that when May turned back she would see an empty plate. Yes, Peter did feel somewhat guilty about it, but he just couldn't eat and there was no way he was going to tell May, she would blow everything out of proportion and probably go tell Mr. Stark, who would also go and blow everything out of proportion.

"Good job Peter, wasn't so hard, was it?" May said sarcastically after turning back to see Peter's empty plate, but Peter could also hear the slight relief in her voice. Gosh, she worried too much. "Now finish eating these while I go have a shower. Then I'll drive you to school."

She placed the eggs in front of Peter, gave him a quick kiss on his head before walking out of the room. Peter's heart ached, he hated lying to someone he loved so much, but he couldn't have her all worried about nothing….It goes without saying that the eggs ended up in the garbage, hidden beneath a few ripped paper towels.

* * *

Darkness. That was all Peter could see. He couldn't think or breath. He was alone. Peter tried to move, yell for help, do anything, but he couldn't. He was stuck in this place of nothingness that felt infinitely big. The teenager had never been more scared in his life. All he could hear, in his mind was the echo of the same words. I don't want to go. I don't want to go.

With a start Peter woke up, sweaty, trembling and starving. He realized he had been having a nightmare, a terrifyingly real nightmare (it felt SO real that Peter swore it had happened… but he couldn't remember).

It had been three days since Peter had begun to feel sick and it was only getting worse. Now, not only could he not stand the thought of food, but he also kept waking up in the middle of the night. He was having nightmares, but couldn't seem to remember what they were about, only that he felt very scared and alone. And, of course, those same five words, "I don't want to go". Peter trembled, wrapping his arms around himself; even thinking those words sent a chill down his spine.

Everything was really beginning to take a toll on Peter, the lack of food was making him feel very weak, and the lack of sleep was not helping at all. The boy wished he could just take some sleeping pills, but they didn't work with his new metabolism. The only thing that could work was a specially designed sedative that Mr. Stark had made for him, but Peter knew he couldn't ask his mentor for some with him freaking the hell out. Like seriously freaking out. Mr. Stark had been doing that a lot lately, without reason. He would take Peter's sleeplessness way too seriously, like he took everything lately (or at least anything involving Peter). Peter couldn't have that. No he would keep this is himself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Kid, pass me that wrench" Mr. Stark spoke from the corner of the lab where he was currently working on some upgrades from the Ironman suit. Peter still couldn't believe that this was his life now; sitting in a top notch lab with not only one of the world's most famous people, but his own personal hero. It was beyond insane. Even on days like today, when Peter wasn't feeling well (which had pretty much been every day for the past week), he still loved every second he spent sitting sit by sit his mentor working in the lab.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter suddenly realized he never responded to Mr. Stark, who had now stopped working and was looking up at Peter with a strange expression on his face.

"Everything okay kiddo?" Peter hated that he heard concern in the billionaire's voice. Mr. Stark always got concerned over nothing, it was annoying.

"Yes, Mr. Stark" Peter said sarcastically with an eye-roll.

"Uh huh," Mr. Stark did not sound convinced, but he didn't push it. "So, can you pass me that wrench or what? You're not a very good assistant I'll have you know."

"Oh haha" Peter, despite himself, felt a tiny smile start to form on his face. Shoot, he was supposed to be annoyed with his mentor, but Mr. Stark could always get Peter to smile, he called it his gift ("and I thank God everyday for it" he had said once, half serious, half joking).

Peter reach forward to grab the wrench that lay only a foot or two from where he sat, but as soon as the teenager lifted himself from his seat, he felt the blood rush from his head. His entire body sagged down as his vision became clouded with pixels and stars, completely impairing his vision. Peter's head felt as if it were being split in two and he embarrassingly let out an involuntary groan.

Fortunately, this whole ordeal only took about half a minute before his vision cleared and his headache stopped. Unfortunately, this whole ordeal definitely did not go undetected by Mr. Stark's sharp eyes, that always seemed to be on alert for anything being wrong with Peter.

"Whoa kid, what the hell was that?" Peter could feel Mr. Stark's arm around his shoulders bring him back and off the table and guiding to sit properly in his chair. Once Peter was returned to his chair, however, the billionaire's hand did not leave Peter's back, which, Peter quite frankly, deemed to be completely unnecessary.

"Umm, oh nothing, I'm okay." Peter tried for a smile as he made eye contact with Mr. Stark, but it fell through when he was faced with an unwaveringly stern look.

"Peter." The teenager felt a ping of surprise at Mr. Stark's use of his name, which he reserved for serious situations. This was not serious, Peter thought to himself, why was Mr. Stark being weird. "Here's what we are not going to do. We are not going to lie about your wellbeing. That is never, ever, an okay thing to do, am I clear?"

Peter's stomach churned slightly at Mr. Stark's tone of voice as well as his words. The older superhero gave Peter a pointed look that would cause most full-grown men to break out into tears at his lack response.

"Um, yeah, okay." Peter felt very awkward and guilty for some reason under Mr. Stark's writhing look. He wanted to break eye contact, but couldn't seem to forced himself to look away.

"Alright so let's try this again" It didn't escape Peter's notice that Mr. Stark had been and still was slowly rubbing soothing circles on his back, even as he spoke sternly. "What the hell just happened?"

"Um," Peter pulled slightly away from Mr. Stark's arm, only for Mr. Stark to immediately pull him back firmly, and almost warningly, resting a hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter was about to lie again and try to convince his mentor he was fine, but at the last second thought better of it. "I just got a little bit dizzy."

Mr. Stark's expression, almost instantly, turned from stern to concerned. It was comical really, and Peter probably would have laughed at it had the situation been different.

"FRIDAY, run a scan" Mr. Stark said with a flick of his hand towards Peter.

"It appears that Mr. Parker is suffering from malnutrition, his blood sugar is dangerously low and with taking his advanced metabolism into consideration, it is highly recommended that Mr. Parker eat something immediately."

A long beat of silence follows FRIDAY's announcement. Peter hold his breath as Mr. Stark whips around to look at the young superhero, the look on his face unreadable.


	3. Chapter 3

"What?" Mr. Stark spoke unexpectedly softly, "Have you not been eating Pete?"

Peter felt a wave of discomfort pass through him at his mentor's question. This was the exact thing he had been trying to avoid; having to discuss why he wasn't eating. How was he supposed to explain that he just woke up one morning and, out of blue, stopped feeling hungry? The teenager knew how unbelievable that sounded, it didn't even make sense to him.

"Don't be mad," Peter starts, bracing himself for what he knows will be one hell of a lecture. At this point it was pointless to lie, Mr. Stark already knew he hadn't been eating, FRIDAY had told him as much, and lying to the billionaire was bound to just make things worse. "I just haven't been hungry lately."

"What?" Mr. Stark repeats his earlier question, still using the same oddly calm tone of voice.

Peter thought he would have already started yelling at this point. Not eating had become a sore topic after a incident a couple of months before the snap when Peter starting eating less than he should because his new metabolism was costing Aunt May a lot of money. When Mr. Stark had found out, he had been very, very upset.

"I just haven't been hungry lately Mr. Stark -" Peter began.

"I heard what you said kid," Okay, now Mr. Stark was beginning to sound a little more angry, his voice stern, allowing no nonsense. "I just don't believe you. There is no way you are suffering from malnutrition just because you haven't been feeling hungry lately."

The genius finished his thought by giving Peter a look that made to teenager want to disappear. Gosh, why was Mr. Stark always so dramatic.

"It's just -" Mr. Stark cut Peter off.

"No. I don't want to hear you're bullshit lie right now. With your metabolism not eating is a serious thing," Mr. Stark paused only for a second to give his kid the look again; full of disappointment, disbelief and a touch of concern (with Mr. Stark there was always a touch of concern). "so we are going to start by getting you something to eat and then we'll talk. Okay?"

Even though the older man had phrased it like a question, Peter knew it was really more of an order and even he wasn't stupid enough to argue.

"Okay fine." Peter said as he started to stand, blinking away to stars that swam across his vision at the sudden movement. "But it really is not a big deal. And you definitely don't need to help me stand! Stop being so annoying."

The young superhero spoke the last part as Mr. Stark attempted to wrap his arm around Peter's shoulders to support some of his weight. Peter instantly pushed his mentor away, and even though it was a little rougher and harder than Peter had meant for it to be, it was really Mr. Stark's fault for being so annoying.

The billionaire stumbled back a little with the force of Peter's unexpected push. He was clearly surprised and Peter couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret at being so rude to someone trying to help, even if the help he was giving was completely unneeded.

"Okay well I guess if you have enough energy to push me around like an ungrateful little brat, I shouldn't be too worried, huh?" Mr. Stark's voice was riddled with annoyance. Well fine, Peter was annoyed too.

"So can we stay here then? And I can watch the best superhero in the whole wide world work on his suit. A dream come true!" Peter responded with dripping sarcasm and a horribly fake smile. Deep down, he knew now wasn't the time to push Mr. Stark but the older man had started it by calling Peter a brat. He knew how much the kid absolutely hated being called that. And to hear it from his childhood hero… well, that really stung.

"Oh wow you really are being a brat today kiddo" Usually Peter's heart would leap when Mr. Stark called him kiddo, but the way Mr. Stark said it now made it sound more like an insult than an affectionate nickname. It hurt. "Now come."

"Stop calling me that" Peter spoke, not moving from where he stood. It had been a long, long time since he and Mr. Stark had had a fight like this. The last time had been well before the snap. It kind of felt good to let all of his bottled up annoyances at how Mr. Stark has been acting lately; he was far too concerned, strict, and not acting at all like the old Mr. Stark. Peter missed the old Mr. Stark.

"What? A brat?" Mr. Stark started passively, "then stop acting like one."

Peter felt a sudden burst of irrational anger which he would later blame on his lack of food; it really was causing him to not think clearly.

"Asshole." The teenager muttering under his breath, and even as he finished saying the word he knew he had gone too far. He had just called the Tony Stark, Iron Man, an asshole.

The room went silent for a moment and Peter half expected Mr. Stark to just walk out without saying a world, but he didn't. Instead the billionaire stared at Peter with a look of complete disbelief.

"Okay that's enough." Mr. Stark now sounded seriously angry, his voice raised. "I have no idea what's gotten into you today but you do not call me an asshole, understood?"

"Come on, it's not even that bad." Peter backtracked, trying to defend himself without apologizing since he was still irrationally mad. "I'd rather you call me an asshole than a brat, you totally just said that to push my buttons. You started it."

"Jesus, do you even hear how much you sound like a child right now?" Peter flushed at Mr. Stark's words. "I called you a brat because you are acting like a brat right now by being a badly behaved child."

Mr. Stark's words last few words struck Peter hard; how dare Mr. Stark speak to him like that? Peter wasn't some little kid, he was Spiderman for crying out loud, a superhero! He saved lives every day and had more responsibility on his shoulders than most fully grown adults. Peter was absolutely humiliated by his mentor's harsh words.

Peter took a step forward with the intention to get right up into Mr. Stark's personal space and tell him exactly how he feel about being called "a badly behaved child", when, all of a sudden, he felt his legs fall from beneath him. The teenager felt a gasp escape his mouth as he fell towards the floor; his world turning black. The last thing Peter could remember was his fall being cushioned by two strong arms.

Peter woke up almost immediately after he fell unconscious (because he definitely did not faint, no way) to the sound of Mr. Stark's frantic voice.

"FRIDAY, get Bruce down here right now!"

The teenager slowly opened his eyes, a headache building at the back of his head. He looked around and realized he was on the floor of the lab, his head resting gently on Mr. Stark's lap. Peter forced his eyes to make their way up to look at his mentor, who appeared very panicked.

"Whaa?" Peter was surprised to find his voice uneasy and slurred.

Mr. Stark jerks his head to look down at Peter at the sound of the kid's voice and immediately schools his expression, attempting to look calm (attempting being the keyword).

"Hey buddy" Mr. Stark's spoke softly, soothingly, as his hand made its way to Peter's hand, fingers carding through the kid's curls. Peter absently noted the drastic change in the way Mr. Stark was speaking to him now compared to how he had been only a couple of minutes ago. "How you feeling? Kinda freaked me out there."

"Um, not great. What happened?" Peter winced at his slightly slurred voice. He could see by the older man's expression that he noticed Peter's difficulty speaking as well.

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me. One second you were standing up and the next you were on the floor." Mr. Stark with a forced chuckle, trying to hide his worry. As he spoke, the genius moved his hand from Peter's hair to rest on his forehead, a frown suddenly appearing on his face. "Wow you are sweaty."

Before Peter could respond with some sort of joke, none other than the Bruce Banner rushed through the lab door. Even in his distressed state, Peter still felt a rush of excitement at seeing one of the world's best scientists. Of course the teenager had met Bruce a couple of times before but it still felt surreal seeing him.

"Thank God. Bruce." Without a moment of hesitation Mr. Stark effortlessly swept Peter into his arms, bridal style of course, and carried him over to the couch near Bruce.

"Mr. Staaaark…" Peter whined at being carried like a kid.

"Hush kiddo" And there it was. The kiddo that made Peter's heart leap. "You're okay."

The billionaire gently placed the kid down on the couch and turned towards Bruce who immediately started examining Peter. Normally Peter would have resisted but at the moment he felt very, very tired.

"What happened?" Bruce turned towards Mr. Stark.

"Fuck Bruce I don't know. We were working in the lab and all of a sudden he said he felt dizzy and FRIDAY reported that he was suffering for malnutrition. Malnutrition of all fucking things! I have no idea-"

"Tony, focus."

"Shit sorry. Anyways I started to try to get him some food but we started fighting and I don't even know what we were fighting about, god I am so stupid I should have just forced him-"

"Tony." Bruce spoke again, more firmly.

"Shit sorry, again. I'm just freaking out. Um, then he fainted. He was only unconscious for a minute max. He woke up confused, sweaty, slurring his speech. Damnit I didn't think it was this serious."

"Okay, calm down Tony. It sounds like severely low blood sugar, which is obviously dangerous if left untreated, but easily fixable. Right now we just need to get from sugary food and drinks into him. How's that sound Peter?" Bruce spoke the last part looking at Peter who had been silent the entire time.

"Um, yeah, fine." Peter slurred feeling really out of it.

"Are you sure Bruce?" Mr. Stark questioned looking uncertain. "He doesn't need to go to the medbay or anything? He looks pretty ill."

"All he needs is sugar. As soon as possible." Bruce responded, then hesitated. "But you're right, he does seem pretty out of it. I'll get in IV ready if he isn't able to eat or drink, but you might as well try to get him to eat something before we resort to that."

"Well I can do that." Mr. Stark muttered, scooping Peter back into his arms again and this time Peter didn't have to energy to complain. "Chocolate sound good kiddo?"

"Yeah…" Peter muttered, feeling so out of it that he wasn't sure if this was a dream or not. Everything was fuzzy. The filter from his brain to his mouth didn't seem to function properly anymore. "I like it when you call me kiddo. I like it much much better than when you call me a brat."

"Awww kiddo," Peter, even in his state, could hear a distinct tone of sadness in Mr. Stark's voice. The older man pulled the kid tighter in his arms and rested his forehead on Peter's curls for only a second. "I'm so sorry. You're not a brat, never have been a brat, never will be a brat. You're the best kiddo in the world."

"Thank Mr. Stark, you're the best Mr. Stark ever." Peter managed to say, despite his intense tiredness, and it was totally worth it because of the laugh it got out of Mr. Stark.

Before Peter knew it he had been carried into the elevator, rode up several floors and reached Mr. Stark's common rooms. He wondered how Mr. Stark was able to hold him for so long without even breaking a sweat and decided to ask him.

"It's because you weigh next to nothing kiddo, you really need to eat more." Mr. Stark spoke with an air of lightness but Peter could feel the seriousness behind the second statement. He knew that after this whole thing was over they would be having a long talk. "Well that, and I am a very strong superhero."

"The best superhero in the whole wide world." The teenager spoke without a hint of sarcasm, and he made sure to make eye contact with Mr. Stark to let him know how serious he was being.

"God. You're killing me buddy." Mr. Stark smiled, sitting Peter down on the very comfortable couch.

Mr. Stark left, probably to get Peter some food, and Peter his eyes drifting shut. He was very, very tired. Suddenly his mentor's voice brought him back to his surroundings.

"Hey! Peter, no sleeping yet." Mr. Stark handed Peter plastic blue cup filled with coke and topped off with a bendy straw. "Drink up kiddo."

It didn't escape Peter's notice that Mr. Stark had been calling Peter kiddo a lot and he couldn't help but smile. Taking the cup, Peter took a small sip and paused.

"No no no, the whole thing." The billionaire gave Peter a look, "seriously. It's either this or an IV and I know how much you hate IVs."

"Fine." Peter quickly drank the rest of the cup, already starting to feel slightly better as the sugar entered his system.

He placed the cup down on the table beside him. Mr. Stark instantly picked the cup up, refilled it and held it towards Peter expectantly. Peter complied in taking the cup because, in truth, it actually was helping him feel better.

"How you feeling?" Mr. Stark asked.

"Better." Peter said, taking another sip of the coke. "Much better."

"Good. You look better." Mr. Stark got up from where he was sitting in front of Peter and started to walk towards the kitchen. "Okay, I'm going to make something for you to eat and while I do that I want you to finish the rest of that 2L bottle of coke, got it?"

"Jeez Mr. Stark, that's a bit excessive, don't you think?"

"Nope, no arguing. You are going to do that, you are going to eat and then I'll get Bruce up here to take another look at you."

"Okay."

"Oh, I almost forgot, and then you and I are going to sit down and have a nice long chat about why you haven't been eating." Mr. Stark turned back to give Peter a pointed look.

"Yeah…" Peter suddenly realized that he was going to have to eat for the first time in a couple of day but, oddly enough, he was actually feeling hungry again and he had no idea why. Maybe it was the coke the made his body remember the importance of food?

"Yeah is right." Mr. Stark called from the kitchen. Peter could hear him moving pots and pans around. "Anything you want to eat?"

Peter was about to say no, because he really didn't care, but everything Peter had just put his mentor through, he felt like he owed him some relief and the teen knew requesting a specific food would ease some of the worry Mr. Stark had about him not eating. Plus he was really hungry and didn't want to have to wait for Mr. Stark to cook something.

"Can we order pizza?"

Mr. Stark looked back at Peter in surprise and then a smile appeared on his face, "Of course we can kiddo."


End file.
